


Living Dead Girl

by CuddlyCorpse



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Blood and Gore, Coming back from the dead, Depression, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gore, Horrortale Papyrus (Undertale), Horrortale Sans (Undertale), Implied/Referenced Suicide, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Slow Burn, more tags to come, painfully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-03-07 01:10:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18862687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuddlyCorpse/pseuds/CuddlyCorpse
Summary: Percy LeBeaux is a woman down on her luck. She's homeless, jobless, and running out of money, on top of running out of the will to go on. Running on auto-pilot, she opts to go camping in the rain, and this ends up costing her life...So, why isn't she dead?Concept is based on the save-states in game. It will be expanded upon later when I'm not worried about spoilery nonsense.NOTE: Please use the tags as something of a Trigger Warning. I'll obviously be posting warnings on each chapter, but please pay close mind to what you see in the tags.Updates are sporadic, and will likely be less frequent than some of my other stories.





	1. House in the Woods

Rain pitter pattered along the roof of the bus as it rolled into Ebott City. The lamp posts were lit brightly and sent slices of light across the face of the single passenger, traveling late into the night to get to this particular location. It wasn't the strobe effect of lights running across the young woman's features that woke her, no, it was the dream. It was the same dream she had had for about a year now, since that horrible accident. This dream drew her to this place, where remnants of magic seeped up from the ground and tainted the air. Groggy, blue eyes lowered down onto the post card in her hand, a photo of the area and the mountain in the distance was easily visible beneath the bright, white 'wish you were here' text.

 

The City was surrounded by a picturesque forest, whose verdurous trees rolled like an ocean around the base of the mountain, and slid up the side like an errant wave. All of this could be seen from the post card, but not through the windows of the old bus. It was gradually pulling to a halt and the driver whipped his fat, greasey face around to look at the woman settled so far back she might as well not even be in the bus at all. “Alright, lady. We're at the end of the line. I gotta go refuel and clock out before I end up getting another round of overtime,” he said in his accent that was clearly from the North Eastern area of the States. He could see her moving in the dim light on the bus, and soon, she was making her way towards the front with her backpack dangling from her shoulders.

 

The young lady was dressed as one would expect of someone her age. Her over-sized graphic-tshirt hung about her shoulders, large enough to double as a dress if she wanted it to. The shirt was covered by a half-length hoodie, which framed her just right. The jeans she wore were tucked into her shoes. One could take a good look at her and easily assume that she was homeless, and that would be an accurate assessment.

 

But, just because she was homeless, didn't stop her from paying the fee as she dropped down from the stairs and out into the rain. The pitterpatter of rain droplets turned to an aggressive gale, pelting her with rain. It was hard enough that she compared it to being on the receiving end of a airsoft paintgun. She heard the man speak to her back, and after a moment, she realized what it was. 'Be careful, loads of monsters out there.'

 

She moved away from the bus stop, her thick, soled boots clicking as she went along. A had reached into her pocket to turn the volume of her iPod up while she adjusted the earbuds in her ears. She could listen to The Cramps singing about what's inside a girl for now while she looked for the city directory.

 

Ebott City was dark at night, and one would assume it would be perfect for filming a horror movie based solely on it's odd, unwelcome atmosphere. As late as it was, she had a feeling that no monster would be senseless enough to come out into the rain to bother her.

 

Ebott had been segregated from Brand New Home, keeping humans far, far away from the monsters free on the surface. Or, at least, that had been the idea at first. Most humans had moved away by now, and while things were normal, Monsters still came around humans regardless. They needed food, and they were happy to have it, and free access to magic in the atmosphere again. The core didn't have to sustain them anymore, it was simply that... Humans were afraid of them.

 

And they had every right to be. The monsters had once been very loving, sweet people, and yet now they were horrible, changed, gnarled versions of themselves that none of them really recognized anymore. Even still, despite looking a fright, most seemed to be more nervous around humans than others.

 

The government had been kind to them, however, offering free psychiatric help and aided them in changing their currency over from Gold to the mighty Dollar. Most monsters were beautifully well off, and as such, they were able to heal and get back to their old selves. But, not everyone was able let go of their past. Queen Undyne, for example, had been permanently incarcerated for the madness she caused in her people. Of course, it was for her own good, she was still convinced that, even on the surface, they were still imprisoned Underground. She was getting better, but it was slow going.

 

The Monsters scattered around the area, staking claim on territory, that scientists found went for miles. Most of them didn't even realize they were doing it, but considering they'd been down below for so long, everyone imagined that they needed their space. Regardless, it was hard to run into a monster in Ebott City, even in the rain.

 

Using the city directory, she found where she needed to go, and shock and awe, it was in Brand New Home. With a deep sigh and a song change in her pocket, she started to make the long journey towards Monster Country. That was the closest that she could get to the woods where there were still trails and areas to camp at. Maybe then, in the woods, she would have some cover for the night.

 

Homelessness didn't suit anyone, it certainly didn't suit her. She was always walking, always moving, and her feet, as such, always hurt. Hell, the gorilla glue holding her shoes together was starting to wear down, and now the heel was coming away. She could feel the moisture of the rain soaking into her ankle socks and wetting her skin, but for the time being it was ignored. She had to make it to her campsite before it got any darker.

 

One could tell that there was something off with this human right away. She walked in a manner that was hunched over, and while half of that might have had something to do with the rain smacking into her, it could also have been the depression she was wrecked with. She was alone in life, homeless, and finding herself with little more to get by in life with. More than that, she was running out of money, and offering tattoos and commissions out of the back of shitty bars was growing to be risky. Not only was it highly illegal to do, but most of the people who asked her to do it were drunk beyond reason when she just wanted to get out of the elements for a while. She wondered why she hadn't pawned the machine off by now, she needed the money more than she needed to do these illegal inkings. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was her mother who helped her get the parts to make the damn thing. It was the only thing she had left that she held with sentimentality.

 

And if it meant taking twenty-dollar ink sessions in a risky location before she hopped a bus to disappear? Eh. It helped a little.

 

Her steps fell into beat with the heavy baseline that pumped into her ears as she walked, ignoring the cars that drove past her. She could see some folks slowing down, warning her away from Brand New Home, but she shrugged and went right on walking. The place, she knew, was something of a Ghetto now, mostly due to the fact that, while the government had extended help to a degree, it didn't extend to making the area nicer for the monsters to live. Cheap, really.

 

The walking lead her past the old, run down apartments that the bunny monsters had taken up residence in, several of them looking out their windows at the young lady as she walked by. She must have looked a sight to them, dressed as she was, but her hair was undoubtedly the odd part. To them, it must have seem like she was headless due to the rain. One side was wholly blonde, and the other was the sort of black that did, in fact, make her head look like it was gone. It was long and curled at the ends, she could smell the hairspray gradually washing out under the water.

 

“Excuse me?” she heard the voice, it was far too close for her to ignore it. One of the rabbits had left their home specifically to address her, so, the human lifted her hand to tug the bud out of her ear. “What are you doing? Humans don't usually come down here,” the bunny questioned.

 

“Goin' campin',” came that southern twang that actually shocked the monster she spoke to.

“In.... in this weather? It doesn't seem right to go camping. You're not going to the woods are you?” There was a fear in the monster's voice as she moved a little closer to the human, who didn't flinch away from her like most did. That... that was strange.

“Ain't got the funds to stay anywhere, so, m'campin',” was the calm response. No, the human was not afraid of the rabbit monster, harsh and withered though they might have appeared. The woman considered the lapine monster would have looked worse years ago when they surfaced, but now... Looking down, the woman realized the rabbit was pregnant, so it must have been alright for the lot of them now.

 

Defensively, the rabbit rested her hands on her belly, offering a feeble smile. The umbrella resting on her shoulder dipped slightly, but only briefly. It would seem the tips of her ears got wet. “Do you have a tent or anything?”

“Trees're thick enough I won't be needin' one. You're awful concerned for a stranger you just met,” the woman stated, taking the monster aback slightly.

“Some of the bad ones live in the woods, is all...” the answer was cryptic. “W...would you mind terribly waiting right here for a moment?”

“Fer what?” the woman asked, her head tipping to one side as the pregnant rabbit moved back towards the open door of her home.

“Going to give you some food. If you run into anyone out there, just kinda...throw it at 'em, it'll save your life, I'm sure!”

 

Save her life? Honestly, the young lady couldn't care anymore. She hoped someone started a fight, really. Though, Monsters didn't exactly seem as dangerous as the press would have made them out to be. And yet, she waited out of respect, the rabbit had left her house just to come check on her, so that earned some modicum of her kindness. Not a lot of people, or monsters, warranted it, but this lady? She was a good one, she decided. Even still, she thought she'd hold that food thing at a safe distance in case it was like... poisoned or something.

 

Never trust anyone all the way, ever.

 

IT wasn't the mother that came back out, but apparently one of her children. He was tall, slender, and blue. His hand was shaking a bit, and the woman noticed that he was missing another one as if something bad had happened to him in the underground. “Ma told me you were heading to the woods?” he said, his voice held the same nerves as a neurotic teenager. “Watch out, that territory's crawling with traps, ma'am.”

“Traps?” the woman questioned while taking the Tupperware container and slid it carefully into her backpack. She watched the young blue bunny nod at her and offered him a smile. “Got my trusty flashlight, I think I'll be alright, shug,”

“Just... be careful, and use that if you need it,” he said before he ran back inside before he became a soaked rat like the odd woman standing in front of him. He was, in fact, more scared of her than she was of him.

 

She imagined it had to do with the fact that she was covered in tattoos. None of them were too offensive, however, at least in her mind. She didn't linger in the road any longer. She was almost there...

 

The squish of leafrot under her pathetic shoes carried her through a small park, and soon she found herself in the woods as she hoped. As she expected, the rain was lesser here, the thick canopy overhead seemed to keep a vast majority out. However, it was a leaky roof, and so occasionally that wet mop of hair would end up getting another droplet rolling down the back of her scalp. When it grew harder to see, she reached into the pocket of her backpack and withdrew her flashlight. She clicked it on and went deeper into the thicket of trees and briers. She knew she'd end up having cuts on her legs, but they were superficial. She had to find a place that she could set up camp and sleep before it got any darker.

 

 

Before long, she began to feel as if there were eyes on her, a heavy feeling she was being checked out or something. It wasn't nearly as eerie a feeling as the sound of a tree breaking somewhere, or the cracking of limbs elsewhere. Her pace sped up a bit, traveling through the dark in a semi-blind fashion. The cracking was now somewhere behind her, and she realized what the Rabbit had been trying to warn her. The monsters in the woods, they hadn't completely come out of the mindset of the underground.

 

She broke out into a full run when she heard the crack barely a foot behind her, and the weighty presence sent her headlong into fight or flight. The woman's mind had obviously settled on flight, but unfortunately, it was the sole of her shoe that finally ruined her life. It flapped back in her running and she tripped down into a ravine, and shortly thereafter, with a sick crack, everything went black.

 

~~

 

Her Driver's License said her name was Percy LeBeaux, and he found the name to be odd. Percy had to be short for something, and he was leaning on the idea that it was Persimmon. Of course, he'd never know, now, she'd broken her neck and died at the foot of the hill. It was pretty good, too, because otherwise she would have landed face first into a Beartrap, and that would have been...

 

Hilarious.

 

He drug the body through the woods until he found it, the house he shared with his brother. He knew that the skinny thing was likely out hunting the local wildlife, rain made animals go nuts trying to find shelter. He, however, had a better idea for supper.

 

Across the threshold he came, through the livingroom and into the kitchen. He dropped the body on the kitchen table and set about the arduous task of getting rid of these clothes. A pair of scissors in hand, he snipped her shirt open, and watched as more and more milky skin was revealed to him. She had tattoos all over, some of them pretty, some of them he wasn't so sure. Maybe they could tan her skin and keep it, would be a waste to--

 

His mind stopped running when he heard something. The tell-tale sound of bone crunching before the woman's head snapped back into place. The crunching continued until her head was thoroughly where it was supposed to be, and a few beats later, she was breathing again.

 

What....the hell? What kind of magic was this? Sans remembered anomalies, and this took the fucking cake. He was not accustomed to what he'd just seen, nor the way the body brought itself back from actual death.

 

“so i guess our dinner date's on hold, zombie girl,” he mumbled.

 

Still didn't stop her from cutting her out of her wet clothes, throwing her in one of his old shirts and tossing her into Papyrus's bed, though. He'd... He'd figure this out later.

 


	2. Jumpscares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the abyss of dreams, Percy finds her salvation.
> 
> TW: vague suicidal thoughts.

Trudging through a dark fog, Percy found herself scared of what she might find. The air was heavy and dank, like a humid night on a lake or something. It made it hard for her to breathe, and it didn't help that her throat felt as if it had long ago chosen to close up on her.

 

For what seemed like an eternity, she marched in the dark, shuffling along in bare feet while searching for something. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she knew it was important to find. Still, it didn't stop the sensation that she had been placed in a circular room and was struck with the task of finding a corner. If only that were the case.

 

A voice called out to her, vaguely familiar, though far too soft to place. The suddenness of it in the lonely blackness startled her, and so she whipped her head 'round towards the direction it came from. The beckoning call began, come closer. She started moving towards it, hoping the voice would lead her to what her heart was so desperately trying to find. She felt grey, as if the color had been sucked out of her. A light in the distance, the voice. Rallying herself, she began to jog towards the light. As it grew closer, she felt as if she were in the presence of a star, or a tiny sun with rays splitting through the darkness like a well honed knife. The closer she got, the more her colors seemed to come back, blue. Deep, cerulean swam from her fingertips and up her arms as she reached out.

 

_This. Isn't. Right._

 

The voice was louder now, repeating the words over and over. The feeling was stronger than any she'd felt in a long time, and her heart was full to bursting with it. It was like an ocean had caught her in a riptide and was pulling her down into the core of that light.

 

_This. Isn't. Right..._

She struggled to repeat the words as the heat entered her lungs. The suffocating feeling was growing worse and worse until..

 

 

A crack of thunder woke her from what could only be described as a coma. She jolted, sitting upright in the well made bed she found herself in now. Her eyes flicked along the walls of the space. Here and there were old posters, so old that the paper was curled and yellowed with their apparent age. A shelf leaned against the wall in such a way that one could easily assume it was broken, but even still, a few action figures stood proudly, heroically waiting to save the day. The room was dimly lit by a busted lamp that wasn't exactly plugged into anything. It must have run on batteries, she reasoned, which wasn't too far from the truth. She didn't notice the flashlight that had been jury rigged into the socket to make it work.

 

Lightning streaked across the sky, but it did little to aid in lighting up the room that she currently sat in. The boards on the windows kept out the light, but did very little against the water that got through little cracks in the glass.

 

Where was she? She looked down to her hands, still feeling the radiating warmth of that light in the abyssal dark. Her heart ached to be there again. Her gaze wandered away from her flexing fingers and down towards her bare legs, covered by a blanket that had been patched up more than it's fair share of times. It had stopped being a comforter and became a quilt long ago, Percy thought. Gradually, she began moving, her plump legs curling over the side of the, in hindsight, enormous bed. How she hadn't noticed it before, she was unsure, perhaps sleep and the dream was clouding her perception. She remembered falling... Had she hit her head?

 

“Hello?” she called out through a voice that was far more hoarse than she ever could have imagined. She let her feet rest against the side of the bed, as she was a bit too short to reach the floor. The bed was high up, however, so Percy doubted anyone would be able to touch the floor with their feet while sitting.

 

She was wrong, though.

 

With a clamor of noise coming up what had to be stairs, she felt a pit growing in her stomach. It was loud and sounded like there was a rattle to it. Withdrawing her feet from the edge of the bed, she tucked herself into a corner of the mattress. She rose, shakily, to her feet and held the pillow up between herself and the door. The rattle came closer and closer until...

 

The doorknob slowly turned, it's creaking noise cutting through the air and adding a new sound to the otherwise silent room. Her breathing caught in her throat, her heart flipping in on itself and threatening to implode. She was on edge, and quite suddenly...

 

The door burst open.

 

It wasn't the monster on the other side of the door that made her scream, nor was it the fact that her scream caused the brittle looking skeleton to scream with her. The two screeched for well around a minute before that fight or flight feeling settled in her shoulders. This time? Fight. That pillow was launched.

 

The two screaming banshees watched in awe as the pillow made an impressive attempt, only to fall short of the door with a 'poff' noise. Silence. The screaming stopped, and both skeleton and human stared at the one, truly defeated element in this equation: the pillow. Eventually, though, they looked up to each other and it was as if they weren't sure what to do after that moment of awkwardness. But hey, the screaming stopped.

 

“I'M SORRY, HUMAN!” the skeleton said while stooping to pluck up the pillow. His voice was raspy if not a bit timid. He worried with the pillow between hands so long that Percy figured he could wrap around her middle and touch thumb to ring finger. She looked at his face and made note of his small, squinting eyesockets, and the sharp, jagged, painful looking teeth that clacked together slightly when he spoke. “I DIDN'T INTEND TO STARTLE YOU,” he dipped his head to fully step into the room, but even still, his immense height made him have to bend at the knee and hunch over slightly. He was massive, out of this world huge. “IF... well, if I'm being honest, I f...fell into the door a little, there,” he looked away from the woman in his bed, embarrassed with his own clumsiness.

 

Percy, however, was absolutely shocked that he was... no where near as horrifying as he looked. Hell, he seemed smaller just by the way he was bent in on himself and nervously toying with a frayed bit of thread on the weapon she'd launched pitifully at him just a moment ago. “I MUST SAY, HUMAN,” he said, his demeanor brightening as he took a single step to close the distance between them. He set the pillow down in it's rightful spot and fluffed it before his squinting peepers lifted to her. “THAT WAS AN IMPRESSIVE TACTICAL ERROR. I WOULD HAVE LAUGHED IF I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD HAVE OFFENDED YOU.”

“I mean, I almost laughed, that was kind of awkward, huh?” she uttered in a voice still tainted with sleep and whatever else made her throat hurt. She offered up a hollow laugh and gradually eased to flop back down onto the mattress now that it seemed the threat was over. Monsters weren't scary, she told herself, they were just like everyone else. Just with the whole... Magic thing working for them. “I didn't scare you, did I?”

“Maybe A Little,” he answered with a sheepish smile, or as best he could given his cracked teeth. It looked painful and Percy's heart went out to him.

 

Vaguely, she recalled having an abscessed tooth as a teenager and knew that was probably the worst pain she'd ever endured. She could only imagine how much agony he was in.

 

“My Brother Found You In The Woods, You Ought To Be Careful!” he chided with a little waggling of his finger in her face before his long hands moved to pick her up under the armpits to set her down on the floor beside him. She became suddenly aware how much smaller she was by comparison and it was a little worrying. “We Have Traps For Animals Out There And You Could Have Gotten Very Badly Hurt, Miss Percy, And That Would Have Been Sad!”

 

“Why would it have been sad to you?” she questioned before she could catch herself. He worked on making the bed she'd been sleeping in, a certain air about him suggested he had to have it straightened with a military fineness if the way he tucked things was any indication. He paused, however, thumbing the fabric in thought.

“I Like Making Friends. We Live So Far Out Here It's Lonesome, And Humans...” he paused, looking down sadly. “I Don't Have A Face... Humans Like That Much,” he said this in such a way that Percy felt as if her heart was breaking. She wanted to hug him, but that seemed to be a breach of personal space, so maybe later when she wasn't the weird t-shirt clad girl standing in his bedroom.

 

“I dunno, I think you're pretty cute,” she thought aloud. Mostly because he was cute. He was very cute. His mannerisms, the fact they'd shared a moment with the pillow he was now tucking under his sheets. He seemed nervous to be around her, she noticed, but beyond that.. Precious. Her compliment flustered him and he waved a dismissive hand at her in a most sheepish fashion. “If it makes you feel better, I'll do my best not to endanger myself again. I uh.. kinda fell out there.”

“That's What Sans Said. You Went Down A Steep Hill. I'm Surprised You Didn't Hurt Yourself Doing That,” he commented and ran his hands along the top of the bed to ensure all the wrinkles were smoothed out.

“I think I hit my head, but I'm okay, otherwise,” Percy reasoned, watching him turn to look at her. He stooped lower to peer her in the face before he opted to break that whole personal space bubble. His hand threaded through her black and blond locks, long digits nearly encompassing her head like an apple. There was no doubt in her mind that he could have ripped her head off, but he didn't. He was feeling for wounds, you realized, and when he pulled his hand back clean...

“I Doubt That.” The weight in his words was startling, but in a moment, he rose back up and gestured for the door. “I HAVE TAKEN THE LIBERTY TO MAKE SOMETHING FOR YOU TO EAT WHILE YOU WERE UNCONSCIOUS! YOU HUMANS ARE QUITE FOND OF KEEPING BOOKS ON COOKING, SO I FEEL I'VE GOTTEN MUCH BETTER AT IT!”

“Oh? You like to cook?” she asked while moving to the door with a tiny limp. So she might have sprained an ankle when she tripped. No big deal. She could walk on a sprain.

“Yes! I Love It. There's No Better Way To Show Someone You Care About Them Than To Feed Them!” he said merrily while following her out the door. “By The By,” he mused, taking her by the arm to lift her off her feet and into his hold again. “You Have Pretty Pictures On Your Skin, I Should Like To Get A Good Look When There Is More Light, If That's Okay?” he questioned while one arm dipped under the backs of her legs to hold her a little more comfortably. He'd picked her up in the same manner a gorilla might have picked up it's young, but she didn't comment on it, or how it hurt her shoulder.

 

When she gave a brief struggle in his arms, he shook his head at her. “I Must Carry You, We Have Broken Stairs You Won't Be Able To Cross,” he announced. That made the struggling stop, which was fine. Looking down, she saw the five missing stairs in question, and watched how he crossed the gap with ease. When they were over it, however, she could see straight down into what had to be a basement.

“Did you trip up these on your way to come check on me?” she asked, looking up into his face. She kept her hands to herself, which seemed the better option.

“Ahm... Yes, Actually,” he was embarrassed again. He set her down once they had made it and turned to peer into the hole himself. “SANS!” he barked out, “YOU NEED TO FIX THE STAIRS IF WE HAVE A GUEST NOW!”

“yup,” came from the basement, not muffled by the door, but it was distant.

 

Percy stood, staring into space a moment before the tall skeleton took her hand and lead her to the kitchen. It was much more brightly lit, she could actually see everything now. The table looked to be the newest item in the house. It had a particularly comforting sheen to it that suggested it was lacquered wood. He pulled out a chair for her and she settled in before he moved to cut on the roast he'd been resting. It smelled good, really good. How did she not notice this upstairs? Right, coma. Correct.

“How long have I been out?”

“Two Days. OH! I Forgot To Ask If Venison Is Okay? We... Do A Fair Bit Of Hunting, My Brother And I,” he glossed past her being unconscious for forty-eight hours, but she cued in on it pretty well.

 

She decided she had to have hit her head if she was unconscious for two days. Her body felt beat up and bruised, but her ink made it hard for her to tell either way. She reached to rub at her neck in thought, remembering how badly it hurt when she first sat up. “I've never eaten venison, actually,” she offered up, which made him beam happily.

“Well, Then, You Get To Try Something New!” he said while plating her up a startlingly large portion.

 

Percy was by no means a slim woman. She wouldn't call herself 'fat' either, she guessed. Pleasantly Plump? Fluffy? She wasn't sure what she wanted to consider it, but she wondered if he though that she was going to be able to eat all--

 

Her thoughts silenced when she saw he made a plate much larger for himself and set about eating happily. Where did it go, Percy wondered. Was there an unseen stomach in that slender frame? In the light she could see him better, and she had to say her first assessment of him was correct. He was adorable. Sure he had tiny eyes and broken teeth, but he held a happy cadence that could warm a cold room. His bones were withered a bit and there were signs of scarring and cracking here and there, as if he'd endured some hellish fight that nearly cost him his head. He was dressed in a sweater, dark and thickly corded with the sort of wool that would have probably felt scratchy to a human's skin. She wondered if he'd made it himself, because, after all, it fit him, and Percy had never seen someone quite so large. His legs were clad in a pair of pants that were flannel pajama bottoms by the look of it. Was it late or was it early? She wasn't a hundred percent sure.

 

Percy noticed him wincing when the meat hit certain parts of his teeth, and she considered.. “Where's my bag?”

“Sans Has It,” he said simply, looking up to see she hadn't started eating, but was instead staring at him. The hollows under his sockets flushed a bit as he lifted a napkin to dab his teeth politely. “Ahm... Why?”

“Your teeth hurt, don't they? You're wincing a lot,” she responded, much to his surprise. “I figured since you guys helped me avoid catching my death in the rain out there, I could at least give you some sensodyne toothpaste. It helps me a lot, maybe it'll help you?”

 

He thought about it and was about to accept when another chair was yanked from the table and Percy's backpack was dropped into it. The hoodie clad person that dropped it there didn't linger for long before moving to fix his own plate. He had an issue about just standing and eating right out of the pan, but after being swat by one of those long hands, he put most on a plate and sat down. “Hood Off, Brother.”

 

With a grunt, one of the man's skeletal hands lifted to brush back the hood, showing the massive, gaping hole in his head. Oh, that... That looked kinda painful, Percy found herself thinking. And she was staring again. A single, bloated red eye regarded her with the same air that she regarded him. “rude to stare, perse,” he uttered.

 

...That's right, they knew her name. She realized that since one of them went through her pack, it meant that he'd also probably seen her name on literally everything. She was about to say something, but the shorter skeleton cut her off.

 

“what's that short for?”

 

Her teeth clicked closed after a moment, her lips screwing into a thin line. She thought about it but shook her head. “You'd laugh at me if I told you.”

“To Be Fair, Sans Would Laugh At You Anyway,” the cute boy uttered with a long-suffering sigh. A chuckle bubbled up from the hole-headed skeleton and as if to prove his point, the taller of the two gestured at him.

“How do you boys know my name, anyway?” Percy finally questioned.

“well, it was written all over the sketch books in your backpack, but mostly just went after your id.”

“And you were gonna introduce yourselves...when?”

 

“OH MY STARS!!!! I'M SO SORRY,” the taller of the two burst out, one hand on his sternum. “WE GOT SO CAUGHT UP SCREAMING! I... I Completely Forgot.... I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, and this is my good-for-little older brother, Sans,” he said that last bit so quickly and softly that Percy almost didn't hear it. “But, I Too Am Curious About Your Name!”

 

While Papyrus introduced them, Percy dipped her hand into her bag to feel around til she found the toothpaste she mentioned earlier, setting it near Papyrus gently. “It's short for Persephone, my parents were kinda huge nerds. Dad worked as a coroner, mom was an art historian.”

“Coroner?” Papyrus questioned, looking to Sans.

“works with corpses.”

“OH! Sans Is A Coroner!” Papyrus said happily.

“n...no, not like that, pap.”

 

Papyrus ignored him, however, turning his smiling face towards you. “How Long Will You Be Staying? Please Say For A While...”

“Well, I was intending to camp out in the woods, don't have anywhere else to go.”

“and by the state of your wallet, i'd assume you're runnin' low on cash. you come out here to disappear, kid?”

 

Well that wasn't dinner conversation at all, Percy ignored them for a few moments, deciding to eat a few bites, but she could tell they were waiting for her to answer. She stared blandly at the table for some time before shrugging, more to herself than them. “Maybe I was. Ebott has a reputation for making people just... disappear.”

“That's No Way To Be,” Papyrus said softly, frowning at your evident sadness. “WELL!” he startled you with that loud, boisterous voice of his, causing you to look up from your food. “If She Has No Where To Go And No Money, I Say We Strike Up A Deal.”

“A deal?”

“oh boy...”

“I Don't Want You To Disappear,” Papyrus began, “I Don't Want Anyone To Disappear, I've Had Enough Of That In The Underground.” This boy was too pure for words, Percy thought, staring at him as he leaned over the table to regard you quietly. It took him a while of soul searching to find the words he wanted to use. “If You Are In Need, Then I Would Suggest You Stay Here,” he pressed a long digit into the table, “You Can Return Our Kindness By Helping A Little Around Here. The Place Is A Fixer Upper, After All,” he expressed with a gesture into the next room where the stairs were. “If You Help Us Fix Our House, And Promise Not To Dust Yourself,” you knew what that meant but only vaguely, “Then You May Stay Here Free Of Charge.”

“i would like to add somethin' to that,” Sans uttered, tucking a whole, cooked potato into his mouth to eat while he spoke. “folks in town aren't exactly fond of us despite us near dying to keep their sorry asses alive. as you can imagine, people don't like the look of us, we're reminders of what was. you, on the other hand, have a sweet face. Run our errands in town when we need it, we'll pay you for it.”

Papyrus gave a little clap to that. “Good Thinking, Brother! We'll Have To Teach Her Where The Traps Are, Though.”

“mm, i'll cover that.”

 

Percy stared between them for a long, silent moment before nodding. “Okay.... Deal. I don't have anything else going for me.”

 

Another clap of thunder shook the house, and a wind that made the shack groan under the pressure.

 

“Question...”

“yup?”

“This place isn't going to collapse on us, is it?”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I love Papyrus so fucking much. He's so cute, my son. MY. SON.
> 
> Anyway, Percy's a depressed, lonely homeless girl who wants to disappear.
> 
> TOO BAD, SO SAD, PERCY.
> 
> Want deets on new chapters of this and other fics? Want fic-related art? Wanna give me the chitchat?  
> https://ahouseinthewoods.tumblr.com
> 
> Hit me up on Dumblr.  
> LOVE YA


	3. Daylight Horror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is some backstory and insomnia bonding. Kinda.

After Dinner, Percy ended up crashing and burning on the ratty, tattered sofa in the next room. Papyrus had wanted her to camp out with him in his massive bed, but he imagined that she was doing this for his benefit. She was unaware that for the two days she was unconscious, she'd been sleeping with him. Of course, nothing happened, he treated her unconscious frame more like a teddy bear than anything, but, at the end of the day, Percy didn't need to know that. He was a cuddler, and with her on the couch, his cuddle buddy was gone.

 

Oh well, there was still time for that later, when she was more comfortable with them around.

 

“so, we kinda need a room for her, don't we, pap?” Sans had questioned. He knew his brother would be a little less keen on the idea of her sleeping alone, what if she hurt herself?! Papyrus had been a little more than on edge after the revelation at dinner that she'd come out here with the purpose of kicking it. They'd gotten in the way of that, but she didn't seem too bothered? The way she had put it, it seemed like they were divine intervention, 'if you believe in that sort of thing.'

 

“I Shall Clean Out The Storage Room For Her to Stay In, We'll Need A Bed, Though.”

“yeah,” Sans agreed, watching the girl sleep on the sofa. She was an anomaly, and he wanted to figure her out. The last one had been bad news, after all. Papyrus didn't know that, nor would he, because he'd made sure he never learn about that. So, naturally, when Papyrus suggested the girl stay, he held some relief. He'd CHECKED her, but all he saw had been grief. She had a LV of two, which was bizarre to him, because while she looked rough around the edges, she seemed genuine. After the fall, her HP had crashed, and when she woke, she was barely hanging on one. So, imagine Sans's surprise that the first show of kindness from his brother- offering to stay- that one had become two, and was steadily climbing.

 

She wasn't hopeless, just depressed, he thought.

 

“This Is A Problem I Didn't Foresee,” Papyrus brought him out of his study, causing that single red orb to turn upwards towards his sibling. He quirked a brow bone quizzically and Papyrus continued, “We Will Have To Go Into Town To Get A Bed.”

 

“don't worry about it. we have her doing our errands, i'll go with her and just shortcut us back so we don't have that much to worry about,” he shrugged dismissively and looked at the broken wood. “i mean, i'd have to if we have any hope of fixing these stairs. yanno the --- _lumbar_ yard isn't going to just send her to the woods with planks and hope for the best.”

 

The pun wasn't lost on Papyrus, and he hated his brother for all of two seconds. “Why Must You?” he uttered softly while scaling the stairs with ease to head towards his bedroom.

“somebody's gotta bring the yucks around here,” he commented as he appeared to his sibling in his room.

“Go To Bed, Sans. We Have Work To Do Tomorrow As Much As You Hate It.”

 

~~

 

Morning light shone through the tattered drapes of the sitting room, slithering it's warm rays onto the girl who'd been sitting, awake, since the rain stopped. Her ears were ringing terribly, and it had her plunged into the deepest pits of memories she wished wouldn't come back to her. Tinnitus was hell for her. The constant, loud ringing if there was dead silence around made her feel like she was gradually losing her mind. The rain had stopped just before sun up, and she'd been awake and miserable since then. Sure, she could have gotten her MP3 player, but she didn't want to risk it dying. She didn't know what the electricity was like here, despite the kitchen being a prime source of light last night. Her safety net had holes in it, and she hated it. So, to fight the ringing, she'd set about singing when the sun started shining. It was soft, mostly to herself, but it was noise. It was relief.

 

She sometimes missed home, New Orleans was a hell of a town, but it had been too expensive for her. She had to leave, much to her sadness. At first it hadn't been so bad, being homeless in the big easy. When she was a teenager she'd gone to a lot of places to go tagging, or hell, impromptu murals, so that was typically where Percy made her bed. Hearing jazz in the day, and cars with distant music at night, there had been some sense of peace. The woman knew how to disappear, and it had been sad when her disappearing acts didn't do her any good anymore. She'd come close to being killed in her home city after witnessing a drug deal gone terribly wrong. So, she fled, because witnesses didn't live for long.

 

As she traveled the county, though, she started wanting to live less and less. Then she found herself here. Percy was thankful for her skeleton saviors, and she was happy to be around them. They were kind of comical in their own way, but she'd never say so to their faces. That'd be rude, she didn't fancy herself a rude person... Unless it was deserved, she supposed.

 

She jolted when she noticed she wasn't alone in the room, though the fact that she hadn't noticed him before kind of shook the poor thing to her core. Sans was sitting in an armchair with that single, bloated orb staring at her while she wiggled under the blanket and hummed or sang to herself. He'd been there for hours, but Percy had been so focused on the window and looking to the swaying trees outside that she hadn't even realized he was there. She'd had an audience this whole time, and it made her face grow hot with embarrassment.

 

“was wondering when you'd notice me,” he said with a laugh in his voice. It had to have been two hours that Percy had been laying there, wide awake with her musings. It had been cute to watch.

“H—How long have you been sitting there? Have you been watching me all night?” oh, shit, was he that obvious? Well he was slouching and he looked like he hadn't moved in days, much less hours. Granted, he had moved, he'd moved a lot. He'd gone from watching her up close to at an angle to where he was now, but Percy didn't need to know that. “Do you make it a habit of watching people sleep?”

“well, seeing as we don't get people out here, no,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders, hands lacing themselves over his gut. Or lack there of. “but, pap was worried that you'd end up in the basement if you got up to heed the call of nature,” he was lying, but it was a buyable lie.

 

“Aren't you tired?”

“ **dead** tired, percy,” he said in a manner that suggested he knew something she didn't. It bothered her a bit and she wasn't exactly sure what he meant by it. Her confusion told him a lot, mostly that she was unaware that she'd died and come back. Interesting.

 

“So uh... speaking of heeding the call of nature, you guys have a bathroom, right?”

“yeah, but we only use it for the shower,” he shrugged a bit at that. Percy imagined that would be the case, but the idea of Papyrus hunching over in a shower that was far too small for his tall self made her give a tiny smile of amusement. “what's funny?”

“Your brother's super tall, is this house big enough for him?” she questioned while she sat up, rubbing her still sore neck. Sans could see the bruise that was fading in her neck. She'd not noticed it, hadn't had the chance to look he guessed.

 

Percy cleared her throat when he didn't answer, in fact, he was staring at her so harshly it made her wilt a bit. “Sorry.”

“huh? oh, yeah, no the house isn't really up to his size, but that's why we're fixing it up- partially. the place is a shitshack, so...” Sans leaned forward a bit, moving to stand up. He was a lot bigger than her, and he was much more broad than his sibling. It was concerning, intimidating, and as he moved over to offer one of his sturdy-looking hands to her, she found herself staring in question. “you need to use the bathroom, right? you asked,” he pointed out with arching brow bones.

 

“OH! Oh, right, sorry, I uh... started thinking about the house. You're a bit on the short side to be taking me upstairs, though, right? No offense, but Pap kinda just..”

“yeah, i know, he's great, huh? no, i know a shortcut,” he expressed with a knowing smile. Percy supposed that would make sense, after all, he needed a way to get up and down to his room, right? He waved his hand in her face, and eventually, she took it. He was strong, and she noted this when he pulled her off the couch and to her feet. “figure you're gonna want a shower, but we don't have the things that, uh, a human might need,” he offered at length. “so, when we go into town, you might want a list to remember what you might need.” He pulled her frame firmly against him and watched her face. She wasn't heating up like he thought she might. Women were hit or miss sometimes. No, she just looked at him with the kind of confusion one might have at being pushed.

 

What did make her face light up like a string of Gyftmas lights, however, was when he took his shortcut. It made her headspin, and seeing herself at the top of the stairs made her eyes widen considerably. “Holy shit,” she whispered, pulling away from him and looking around. He smirked. So he had to pull tricks to get her to emote this early? Alright.

 

“zombie girl, you aren't a morning person, huh?” he questioned and she moved towards the bathroom he pointed out to her.

“Until I've had my cup of coffee in the morning, I'm usually eating brains, yeah,” she commented while pushing inside and shutting him out. “Gimme a sec,” she called through the door. He would wait, deciding he kind of had to. He heard the water in the shower cut on and realized he'd be around for a bit. He decided to shortcut away for a moment to go and put on some coffee for her, lest she'd be 'eating brains'.

 

When he blipped back, he could still hear her in the shower, and he briefly wanted to poke his head in to look at her. Course, he'd already seen her naked, so the mystery was taken away. He'd be lying, however, if he wasn't as curious about her ink as his brother was. He knew humans tattooed themselves, but Percy's were extensive. “drowning?”

“Not yet!” she called back out to him while she did her best to wash without shampoo. Soap was around, but it smelled like honey and lavender. That had to be Papyrus's, and she made a note to get more for him, considering she used a bit as shampoo against her better judgment. “Tryin' my hardest not to slip and fall, though,” she admitted. While the soap was in her face, she couldn't see him, couldn't see his single red eye looking over the ink on her back, along her arms, her legs. She was covered. There had to be a story here. He didn't get a good enough look, though, because she was rinsing and he had to blip back outside, much to his chagrin.

“i put on coffee,” he said against the door, rubbing along his jaw. His mouth was watering. Seeing that much skin, he'd come so close to eating her once, he wondered if that was just a one off resurrection or if it would happen again. If she died, Pap would be sad, though, so he had to be careful about it. Anomaly or not, it was his responsibility now.

“Hey, thanks, man. Where's Pap right now? He seems like a mornin' person, and you and I are the zombies.”

“he goes on a run in the morning,” he uttered, neglecting to mention it was a run to check traps. “you didn't have any clothes in your bag so you're probably stuck with the stuff i have, uh...”

“Was I wearing your shirt? Sorry that I dropped food on it last night,” she offered while rinsing the rest of her frame and easing out of the shower.

 

“nah, that's alright, flavor saver,” he countered, listening to her carefully.

“Where are the towels?”

 

He thought about it, smirking to himself. “no towels, you'll have to be blown dry.”

“Aw shit, dude!” she protested. He could hear her jolt when he opened the door. Head bowed, he kept his blackened sockets on the floor between them as he held out a towel. What Percy didn't know was he was looking at her from the hole in his head, though, with his light out, she'd never know it. Loving Dead, that's what the ink said just above her breasts. Oh, baby, she had no idea, did she?

 

“Asshole, lyin' t'me,” the more she spoke, the more her accent came out, and the more appealing she became. When she wrapped up, he moved back to lead her to his room.

“keep talkin' like that and we may have to wash your mouth out with soap,” he teased while pushing the door open. She followed, tucking the towel under her arms so that she didn't flash him or something. Not that he'd mind.

 

“Oh, ha, ha. So long as you get Ivory soap, it at least tastes sweet.”

“nah, we'll get you that gross axe bodywash that all the hip kids are using now.”

“Oh my god I hate you,” she was laughing, though, so it was apparently funny.

 

He gave her one of his rare clean, unstained shirts. It was new, thanks to Papyrus, and it fit on her more like a dress than anything else. “so why didn't you have a change of clothes on you?” he questioned while watching her pull it on over head and then pulling the towel out from beneath.

“They got stolen.”

“well that's shitty... we'll get you something new. Gotta get you your coffee snackrifice before you turn on me, though,” he said, reaching out to grab her hand to shortcut to the kitchen.

 

Papyrus jolted and grabbed himself by the sternum to catch himself. “SANS. YOU HAVE TO WARN ME, I JUST WALKED IN THE DOOR!” he screeched.

“anything?”

“I Saw Racoons, But I Think They Were Rabid? Daylight Hours And All, We'll Need To Deal With That For The Human,” he commented, watching you shuffle over to make some coffee. “Is She Okay?”

“dead girl in the morning.”

“SO YOU'RE SAYING YOU'LL HAVE PLENTY OF COMPANY IN YOUR LAZINESS.”

“she livens up when you sacrifice a good bag of beans, so i'm told..”

 

Papyrus uttered a knowing 'oh,' hearing Percy laughing at the two of them and their silliness. “Bag of Beans? Really?”

“yup, proper snackrifice for our lady of death, right?” Sans teased with a wink.

“Har Har, you're worse than my dad was,” she mumbled with a sigh. She noted how domestic this felt, and it wasn't so bad. She sat down at the table and let her legs stretch out a little under the table. “So...agenda?”

 

“Well, You And Sans Are Going In To Town.... Do You Have Any Shoes?”

“nah, when i found her she had a blow out in whatever shoes she was wearin',” Sans offered when she looked his way.

 

“Well... We Have A Lot To Do, Then. Alright! You Both Get Her Clothes And Necessities Today, Then Tomorrow We'll Work On The Fixing Of The House.”

“you're a genius, bro.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and Sans skeevs on Percy.
> 
> I'll be putting up a more in-depth look at Percy's ink later on, but for now; If you want to have a chat, hang, or be updated on this and other fics:  
> https://ahouseinthewoods.tumblr.com


	4. Crapsack Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans and Percy get a lil more acquainted and Percy decides it ain't right they livin' in the woods.

Sans was ready to go the moment after Percy had her coffee... But Papyrus insisted on breakfast, first. This was hell on the insomniac, because he was starting to have tunnel vision. Due to the fact that he simply had the one eye, this was rough on him, but he dealt. He watched the girl eat, one hand in her lap to be joined by the other between bites. “you're a debutante, aren't you?” he commented, causing those steely blue eyes to turn and look in his direction. Damn she looked stormy in the morning, he thought, but he would clearly never say so. He and Papyrus never really stopped looking at her ink-stained limbs, and he was going to hold her to the whole investigation thing later, for sure. What he could see of her forearms was easy; On the right arm, Percy had something of a black-out sleeve, with a moth on the wrist, and all the way up her arm, white branches and autumn leaves. The left arm, however, was way different; around her wrist and forearm were strawberry vines, full of fruit and blooming flowers. It clicked to him that it was symbolism towards her name. Persephone was the goddess of spring, right? So one arm was Autumn, the other was Spring.

 

Clever.

 

“I'm not a debutante, but my mother was very big on Manners. She said, 'Percy, one of these days the President is gonna invite you to dinner at the Whitehouse and you'll need to know which is your salad fork and which is your dinner fork.' So, I just naturally kinda...” she shrugged and slouched some, to return to eating the bacon and eggs she'd been given. “Reckon it's a southern thing,” she said after swallowing.

 

“Oh? What Does That Mean? A Southern Thing?” Papyrus asked quizzically while refilling her coffee and allowing her to sip at the bitter black brew.

 

Note to self, Percy thought, get cream. “Oh, uh, I'm from the South-end of the country,” she explained while sitting up a little straighter. Papyrus didn't understand, and so turned to look at Sans, who had finally stopped staring- or so she thought.

“remember the old maps we'd find in the dump when you were babybones? she's from the bottom half of the USA map,” he explained loosely. He watched his brother light up from the realization, a bright smile coming to his cracked set of teeth.

“OH! So You Are All Mannerly Down There?” he questioned the woman then.

 

Percy couldn't help but to have a huge amount of endearment towards Papyrus. He was cute. He was so cute in fact that she'd almost gone to bed with him again to avoid that pouting, but she ended up dozing on the sofa so that hadn't worked out. Besides, it was more cramped with her, right? Couch surfing never really hurt her, anyway. She gave him a big grin and shook her head. “Nah, just the folk who give a damn about it,” she explained. Once her breakfast was finished, she leaned back to suck down the rest of her coffee and then set the mug down with a tiny sigh. Oh that was the good stuff. “I really enjoyed it, Papyrus, thank you,” she said pleasantly.

 

The two were clearly not accustomed to friendliness, and it was clear by the fact that Papyrus's face was covered in a hue so close to tangerine that it startled Percy and made her worry he was sick. “You okay, sugar?”

“OH! NO! I'M FINE! I … Just Don't Get Compliments From Anyone But Sans,” he admitted with a clear bit of embarrassment in his face.

“I'm sorry, sugar, din' mean to em-”

“NO! No, No, Please Don't Apologize! It's Simply Something I Must Grow Accustomed To!” he defended gently, which only served to make his houseguest smile, and that made him more than a little happy. “NOW! Do You Have A List Prepared?”

“Nope, gonna get on that,” she said while hoisting herself to her feet to go grab her bag from the sofa. The two skeletons watched her disappear, and after a moment looked to one another in confusion. This girl was confounding, or as Papyrus whispered, confuddling. “I Would Think She Would Be Afraid Of Us?” he whispered to Sans, who scratched along his jaw.  
“dunno, pap, maybe things are different where she comes from?”  
“If That's So, I'd Like To Go There...”

“let's get to know her before we decide to go on a road trip, okay, pap?” Sans chuckled and lifted with his coffee to follow their guest to make sure she wasn't up to anything. He leaned in the doorway and watched her hunched over a sketch book to scribble down notes of things she might need.

 

–

 

When, finally, it was time to go, Percy said a polite goodbye to Papyrus, who seemed over the moon that she would be so kind to him. There was some hesitation when it came to stepping off the splintering wood porch, however, and it was undoubtedly due to the fact that the girl had no shoes. Sans was silent as he stared at her, looking between her, then the ground, then her again. Finally, he decided that he was going to have to piggy-back her a bit so she'd learn the trail without hitting any of the traps. Sighing heavily, he moved closer and took her by the arm. The surprise on her face wasn't wasted on him, though he pulled that arm over his shoulder as he gradually turned his back to her. As if realizing what he was doing, she wrapped her arms around his neck and climbed aboard.

 

Percy was a little surprised upon feeling how he hoisted her up with such ease, his hands lacing under her bottom so as to keep her from falling. She became briefly aware that she wasn't exactly the skinniest mini in the world, but he didn't seem to notice. Maybe it was a monster thing, she reasoned. They seemed to be stronger than humans physically, anyway. The fact that his hands were now squarely supporting her ass gave her pause, but she said nothing as he started to walk. She opted to wrap her legs around his middle, and while that gave him a moment of hesitation, he was eventually on track once again.

 

“I'm surprised you haven't broken down a trail out here,” she commented, catching the sound of him chuckling. “What? Wouldn't that make it easier for you to, y'know, walk around?”

“if we did that, it'd be too easy for people to find us. we aren't liked by our kind, much less humans, so it's kind of best if we make it as difficult to find us as possible,” he explained at length. He trudged through the overgrown foliage without much trouble at all, but that didn't stop the mild concern that Percy held.  
“Thanks for carrying me,” she breathed against where his ear would have been. He managed to beat down the need to shudder all over at the heat to his skull. She didn't realize what she'd done, but as touch-starved as he and his brother had been for as long as they had been? This was something that he could get accustomed to.

“well, of course. you gotta learn the lay of the land, and more than that, i have to show you where you have to walk because we've got traps out here,” he explained while he moved up the slope. At a certain point in the hill, he started walking up at an angle, and when Percy looked, she could see a hidden bear trap beneath a few leaves. There was no way she was going to remember that.

“Is it for security or do you guys fancy hunting?” she asked. This didn't bother her as much as they might have thought it would. In fact, she sounded curious. It left Sans feeling a little perplexed. He briefly slipped, causing one hand to grip the ground before he righted himself to start scaling the hill again. The wet ground was going to make this difficult, but at least this was the only hill they'd have to deal with today.

“bit of both, honestly? like i said, humans and monsters aren't big fans of us. it's one of those things that we came out of the underground dealing with, so we just stay out here and out of people's hair for the most part.”

“I read about what y'all had to go through down there. Killin' and eatin' folk,” she didn't seem upset, what kind of human was this Percy girl? He looked at her from the side as he waded through the overgrown woods, his trek leading him in slight zig-zags until he made it out of the unruly carpet of weeds. It didn't take long to reach leaf rot that crunched under his old sneakers. He was silent, though it occurred to him she might be waiting for him to react.

 

“what else do you know?” he opted to ask, and she uttered a soft laugh against his cheek.

“Well, the news said that they'd incarcerated two skeletons and a fish lady when y'all came up, I'mma go ahead and assume that you and Papyrus were those skeletons. You ain't incarcerated anymore.”

“under the stipulation that we go to a bi-weekly therapy meeting and a monthly meet with probation,” he explained with a limp shrug. “they couldn't really pin us in for doing things in desperation.”

“So why do the other monsters hate you so much?” she asked, tipping her head to look into Sans's face. He really wished she'd pay attention to where they were going so that she could learn where the traps were. But, he imagined that he'd have to take her for a proper walk when she had shoes to show her where not to go...and laugh at her expense if she merrily trudged into a bear trap.

 

“i don't think they hate us so much as they're guilty for what we had to do down there. papyrus and i are the reasons that the majority of them are still alive, and they want to pin the blame on us so they don't have to feel guilty.”

 

“That's not right,” her words gave him pause, making him turn to meet her gaze with his good eye.

“what do you mean?”

“If you guys were the ones to provide food, no matter what or how you got the food, they kinda owe you their lives. So, by that logic, they shouldn't be treating you like the villains here. I bet you woulda died for 'em, too, right? Pap in particular seems self sacrificial.”

“what makes you think that?”

“He gave me his bed for two days, he's too big for the couch. I'm not great at long division, but addition?”

 

He laughed, unable to help himself. She was right, but she squeezed a joke in there and he couldn't help himself. She laughed with him and loosened her grip on his neck to essentially hang on him like a jacket. “you're right, though. he uh... he started making food for everyone and put some of his magic into everything at his own expense, s'why he's the way he is. he feels he has to help no matter what.”

“What about you, then? When you didn't have people to chew on, what'd you manage?”

“oh, uh...” he was embarrassed now as he continued walking once again. “i gave my rations to those who needed it the most. sometimes i was late and ended up watching people dusting as they starved in front of my eyes.... it was bad, y'know?” Percy watched how his grin fell slightly, as if the memory hurt him.

 

“See why I think it's not right, then? You guys carry the burden of all of this shit and you end up out in the woods like y'all the blair witch or somethin',” she said, leaning back just slightly which made his grip nearly slip. Her frame met with his back again, however, and he could adjust his grip to avoid dropping her.

“yeah, i can see that.”

 

The two slipped into a sort of silence and it was obvious they were thinking things over. He made it to the edge of the woods and trudged through the broken down Another New Home. In the middle of the day, other monsters were out and about. Some of the new children were out playing on the play ground in the park that the woods framed. Many of them withdrew to their parents. Percy made note of how these people stared, and more than that, they seemed slack-jawed at the fact that Sans was carrying a human. A human that wasn't dead.

 

When finally he stopped, it was because they hit pavement and he was able to put the girl down. When he lifted up from the crouch, he uttered a groan and Percy was shocked to hear his spine crack with dull pops. It made her think of bubble wrap. “You okay?”

“mhm, got a bad back,” he expressed, though he found himself shocked when you looked upset or even offended by that. Life went into slow motion as his passenger whipped her hand back and slapped him gently on the arm.

“Stupid ass, you coulda told me and I woulda just dealt with the splinters!” she said while moving bare foot across the pavement.

“hey, don't worry, it's not like i haven't toted around weight before,” he commented with a sly smirk. He'd neglect he'd hauled her body from the ravine to the house, after all.

“STILL! I don't wanna end up breakin' your back because you decided to carry my fat ass around,” she huffed. She happened to notice someone staring, it was the blue bunny boy from the night before. He stared in shock at Sans, coming out of the woods for the first time in years, and then at the girl they'd given cookies last night.  
“hey, buddy, thanks for the cookies,” Sans called, giving him a wave as he followed Percy further into the old, run down city that the citizens of Ebott had been SO GRACIOUS to give them. Yeah, right. Still, at least there were some businesses around, and people could get by on what little they had to work with. Some monsters were better accepted than others, and it was usually the more business oriented of the bunch. Grillby's bar had sprung up first, then Muffet's cafe, and shortly after the Bunnies brought out a bakery. They were all gradually picking up the pieces, and it was always good to see that most of these people had healed. Sans was bitter, sure, and he had every right to be. They all got better while he and Papyrus were shunned in the woods.

 

Percy walked, making note of every building they passed as they walked with a foot of space between them. He noted that she was soaking in the fact that the place was a run down ghost town, or it would have been if no one lived there. “So, Ebott's not going to do anything to gentrify the area and make it more livable?” she suddenly asked, worrying with a bit of the sleeve of that oversized shirt she'd been put in. “That's not right...”

 

He noticed she said that a lot. 'That's Not Right,' as if the fact that everyone had to live this way was an atrocity. Sure, it was a lot better than the underground, but she wasn't necessarily wrong. Racism made things a lot harder for the monsters, and it was just something they had to deal with.

“Y'know, they told us you guys were being compensated for what happened. Medical and all of that,” she suddenly said, turning to look at him as if to ask him.

“we're all on- uh- I think it's medicaid or medicare, i don't know the difference. most of us are labeled with the 'disabled' status because some are unfit for work because of what went on down there. but some of us, like pap and i, have mandatory jobs we have to fulfill in order to maintain some sort of freedom.”

“So, community service or somethin'?” she asked him and he shrugged in response.

“sort of,” he mumbled.

“So, what do you do?” He really wished she hadn't asked him that, he didn't work as much as Papyrus did, and it was mostly due to the fact that he wanted to return to normalcy.

“i don't deal well with people, not like pap does. he volunteers at a homeless shelter for humans, and i... act as a ranger, i guess? so if people who get curious and do the touristy thing and go out in the woods, get lost, it's my job to find them.”

“What about your traps?” she countered. Damn.

“those are only around our house, and that's way, way out there,” he assured. She didn't seem convinced, and she had every reason to be skeptical because he was currently lying to her face.

“That doesn't sound like a suitable job for you at all, if I'm gonna be honest with you, Sans,” at least she changed the subject.

“what would you suggest my job be, then, perse? i'm curious,” he didn't exactly have the face for customer service.

“Well, I mean, if you got a place here in town you could work from home. All you'd have to do is learn to type and you could do medical transcribing, easy peasy,” she said with a shrug. He snorted softly at her expense and tugged her out of the way of shattered glass to avoid her walking across it. Funny as it'd be to watch her pull it out of her feet, he didn't like the idea of having to HELP with that.

 

“Hell, iffin' we was in the Big Easy, you an' Pap could run a tour. Folks back home obsessed with skeletons n shit like that,” she said, which made him stop walking to stare at the back of her head. She must have felt the weight of his gaze, because she whipped her head around to look at him. Her hair hung around her face, curling at the very ends and it made her look sort of...classic to him. Weird.

“So you're from New Orleans,” he said, looking her dead in the eye. She grinned at him and nodded.

“Born and bred,” she said with a sort of confidence that he wasn't accustomed to seeing in her. “Wasn't a shitshow like this place, either,” she gestured around. “I imagine Monsters would have it a hella lot better down there. Lots of people think Monsters are really amazing for going through what they went through, but, I think some may uh... romanticize it a bit?”

“nothin' romantic about starving to death, perse.”

“People are weird, Sans,” she countered him while reaching to yank him along. “You're stalling, let's go.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for readin' if you did. I feel like the Chapter's not 100% grand, but m'also feelin' slightly sickly. Bear with me, but thanks for the support either way.


	5. The Eyes Have It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Percy and Sans go shopping. Percy gets studied, Sans gets judged. 
> 
> Oh and this one weird mannequin sells them a bed.

The longer Sans spent time around Percy, the more he learned about her. Currently, he'd learned that she'd smuggled her music player with them on this trip and was currently blaring music in one ear while looking through a few necessary human products at the store in Ebott. Of course, the other humans in the store were giving her odd looks, though whether it was because he was standing near by, leaning on a cart, or whether it was the fact that she was rocking her hips to the beat of whatever she was listening to was a mystery. Never before had he seen someone with enough confidence to dance in a store. Yet, here he was in the presence of someone who cared less than he did. Shocker. He watched how she mouthed along to the song she was listening to. Based on what little he could read of her lips, the lyrics went something along the lines of;

 

_I'm a human fly, I spell F-L-Y, I say buzz buzz buzz and it's just because...._

 

He had never heard the song before but with lyrics like that, he was kind of curious.

 

His mind wandered, however, as he let his eye linger on her neck. Just three days ago- or had it been four now? His holey memory made it hard to keep track of time.. Still, days ago he recalled the horrible kink in her neck that brought her death, and now here she was as if it never happened. Her hair bounced lightly with her motions, and he caught himself watching her hips stop as she stooped to pull up a bottle of shampoo that smelled like apples. She didn't even have to open the cap for the scent to hit him like a redneck's hummer. He watched her toss it along with a matching conditioner into the cart before she meandered off to get hairspray.

 

The cheap-o flip-flops she'd grabbed from a street vendor outside slapped the soles of her feet as she went. She walked funny, he noted, with a rather lackadaisical gait that was more suited to someone who had it all, and not someone who had absolutely nothing. Percy seemed to have very little care about a lot of things, despite being thankful for what they were offering her. It was a bizarre mix, and he wondered what pushed her to be so...

 

Dead.

 

Maybe that wasn't the right way to look at it, but that was certainly the way he was gazing at it at present. Did she know about her affliction? Did she know she was an anomaly? Well-- probably didn't even know what an anomaly was. He'd put money on the fact that she'd think she was cursed or something. Humans were superstitious like that.

 

“You're starin' really hard, Sans,” Percy's voice came as a surprise to the skeleton, causing him to stand straight up with a look of shock on his face. “Somethin' must be real interestin' for you to be borin' a hole in my back.”

“sorry, perse, i have the uncanny ability to see through clothes,” he joked at her and watched her whirl around to look at him. Did she believe him?

“What am I wearing, then?” oh, no, she truly didn't, but she was definitely playing along-- something he could appreciate.

“absolutely nothin', just like me,” he winked his dead eye and watched her smirk at him.

“Bing, bongo,” she mumbled while looking him over before pulling the cart. “Seriously, though, you look like someone kicked you and you're tryna understand why.”

“can i ask you a question and you not think it's weird?”

“Shug, the only questions I'll answer are the weird ones,” she countered, which only served to cause his grin to angle a bit.

 

This was a different side to her he'd not seen yet, but then, the night before she had been groggy and had only just come out of a few-day coma. And this morning, she'd been damn near dead to rights without her coffee, so this was... kind of a pleasant change.

“What's your question?” she reminded him while looking at feminine products that he was kind enough to avoid looking at. He, instead, glanced down the aisle a bit at tooth brushes and thought about getting Papyrus some more of that Sensodyne stuff. Apparently it had helped a lot, Pap was all the rage about it this morning before he left for his run.

 

“do you remember the night you came into the woods?” he didn't beat around the bush too much, but the fact that she stopped looking at her pack to turn and look at him told him a lot more than he bargained for.

“Why do you ask?” she said stiffly.

“i found you out there, and you uh...seemed to have taken quite a spill,” he mentioned lowly, keeping their voices between them. There was no one else around, after all. “wanna tell me about that?”

 

She looked away from him and was silent for a bit before tossing what she needed into the cart and pulled it along. At this point, Sans had taken to standing on the Cart, she just pulled him along with, so he didn't mind taking position whenever she was ready to move again. She knew what she wanted, after all. He hummed softly under his breath, no doubt to the tune pumping into her ear. It sounded like something old, like My Girl or something. He'd never admit it out loud, but he fancied old music like that. The Temptations had it right.

 

“I heard something, that night in the woods. It was raining and people in Another New Home kinda had me shaken up about bogeymen in the woods,” she mumbled, reaching to rub at her neck. “I heard noises in the dark and started running. Whatever it was was chasing me... I didn't see the ravine until my shoe's sole ripped and sent me spiraling down the hill. Y'know, I don't remember rolling down the hill, it was more like soaring down the area the slope would have been if I hadn't tripped outward,” she explained, making little gesticulations with each point she made.

 

“I.... heard a crack and blacked out,” she said softly, looking down at herself for a moment as if suddenly realizing, or wondering, if she'd broken anything. Nothing was out of place, hell she'd been dancing minutes ago. Her confusion showed for a few brief moments, but she bit it back as she started pulling the cart once again. “Uh, anyway, while I was out I had this weird dream that somethin' was callin' me, so I followed it and ended up being drawn to this weird star thing?”

 

A weird star thing. Sans let her pull him along on the cart, and she stopped again as if she realized something weird. Did she know she died? Surely not, not yet anyway. He couldn't even begin to wonder how that was going to go, when she realized that she could just come back. He half contemplated how long it would take between each death and if she'd died before.

 

“I've had that dream before,” she mumbled stiffly.

Yeah, she'd died before, he decided. “you're an artist, right?”

“What gave me away?” she said, grinning to him, that stiff air fading away when he brought up drawing something.

“dunno, maybe it's all the doodles you have on your skin that won't wash off in the rain.”

“Tattoos,” she corrected, though she knew very well he knew what they were. “But uh...yeah, you gonna ask me to draw what I saw?”

“sure am, golly, you read minds too?” he teased with a grin.

“I'm from Nawlins, we all know how to read minds,” she said with a smirk, “ yeah, I'll uh... I'll draw it.”

 

He made a note to get her more drawing supplies seeing as it seemed to cheer her up some. Dead as she was, he liked the 'weird girl' better. He imagined Pap liked the Debutante, so maybe he'd get her a prom dress for shits and giggles too. Papyrus would probably enjoy a southern tea. Maybe.

 

–

 

The rest of the shopping trip had been interesting, and that was saying something. They had dropped the topic of Percy's death at the foot of the hill, the star, even drawing it. They paid for the necessities, and he short-cut them home before she noticed he was gone.

 

Their next stop was to get her a bed, which... well, disappearing with a mattress was going to be kind of hilarious, when it came right down to it. Again, they had to deal with the odd looks of humans in town, and the fact that she picked up on how people avoided looking at him made her do something weird. She curled an arm around his and yanked him close enough that he could feel the heat of her frame radiating into his bones. “what're you doing?”

“I'm dizzy,” she was lying to him, straight to his face, too. The best part? She knew he knew, because she gave him a sort of 'dare you to bring it up' expression. He wasn't going to, though.

 

The mattress store gave them superficial smiles, a monster showing up here was good business, usually, because they tended to be loaded with money. Gold exchange was great for business, but they'd never let monsters live in town. Shitty as that was, Sans had come to accept it. “Good afternoon! What can I do for you?” the saleswoman mused happily to them both, smiling with her fake, plastic, Barbie Doll expression. Sans was looking off into the distance, figuring that since Percy seemed to know what she wanted, she could handle this. He was just a walking wallet at this point. But alas, she drug him along, using him as a pretend crutch the whole time. The saleslady had to endure him, as much as she may have hated it. He knew that tight smile, knew that she didn't like looking at the hole-headed skeleton who dressed like he grabbed his clothes out of the lost and found.

 

That was fine. He didn't much like looking at her either. He wondered how much of her was fake and how bad her silicon injections would feel against his teeth. He made a face, suddenly disgusted and feeling his non-existent stomach do a horrible flip. He almost gagged.

 

He realized they had been talking when Percy elbowed him in the ribs. He came back from his thousand yard stare and looked around. They'd moved and he hadn't realized it. Hell, he was sitting. He looked down at the indented bed beneath him and then turned his gaze to Percy, who seemed to be waiting for him to answer something he hadn't heard.

 

“pardon?” was all he could manage in that moment, and she gave him a smirk.

“This feel good on yer ass or what?” she asked him a second time. He glanced to the saleswoman who looked about ready to strangle the southern girl. The tattooed dead girl, however, had no fucks to give, so this woman's fake smile was wasted on the back of her head.

“yeah it does, but, need i remind you, this is your bed, not mine?” Sans was doing his best here, he wasn't accustomed to people giving a shit about his opinions. Hell, Undick hadn't, and thus he had a gaping hole in his head and a blind eye as a result.

 

He'd zoned out again and missed what she said, but considering how the saleswoman came over to give them paperwork he imagined it was an 'I'll take it' comment. “Where would you like us to deliver this?” the woman questioned while having a wrapped mattress brought in from the back.

“no need to deliver it, i know a shortcut,” he uttered after he paid it off in full. He was getting tired, and his lack of sleep was catching up to him.

“Y'mean that thing you did earlier?” Percy asked while following him to the cushion.

“Do you not want a box spring?”  
“got one at home,” and with that, he tugged the inked up human to his side. She blinked wildly and as he touched the mattress, he gave a single push and they were back home.

 

She stumbled away from him, coughing, hacking and wheezing on the magic that had just clouded her vision. “Holy shit,” she squeaked out, watching as the mattress fell on an old box spring in what was now, apparently, her room. It was cleaned up, and there were a few bits and pieces of furniture around, but it seemed...cozy. One of the dressers she was eyeing up harshly because she wanted to sand it down and paint it the moment she laid eyes on it.

 

“this is your new place,” he gestured to the corner where he had stacked up her bags from their other portion of the shopping adventure. “make yourself at home, i'm gonna go take a nap,” and with that, he was gone. She was left watching him vanish into his own disaster zone of a bedroom, door closing with a faint click behind him.

 

Percy stared after him for quite a while before she moved to ease her own door closed. She looked down to her music player. She'd turned it off a while ago, and the silence was crushing her head at present. She hadn't needed it when he was talking to her, but now that she was alone, she was acutely aware of the loud ringing in her ear.

 

Her eyes stared emptily into space for some time as she waited for it to boot back up. The ringing became the screech of tires and a loud bang, which sent her spiraling into a memory she had longed to leave behind her in New Orleans. Hands shaking, the music player finally came to life and she hurriedly turned on some Elvis. Tears rolled silently down her face as Heartbreak Hotel chased away the memory. She knit her brows together and pulled herself out of her panicked state. She pulled on a pair of shorts she'd bought in town and pocketed her music player and set about fixing her room to her tastes.

 

She could make this work... Kind Skeletons and weird dreams aside...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I lied, it wasn't a mannequin, it was a real person. Well, mostly real.
> 
> Wanna talk sometime? Wanna make suggestions? Wanna show me somethin' you drew whether or not it has anything to do with any of my fics?  
> I made a Discord AND a Tumblr!  
> https://discord.gg/gpRquR5  
> https://ahouseinthewoods.tumblr.com
> 
> Come hit me up sometime! I love hearing from you lovelies <3


	6. Anyone Can Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: Gore and less than savory depictions of the healing process.  
> Trauma references.

_Rain spilled into the pavement as the car hurtled down the back roads to get home. It was late, and after an art fair at school, Percy was glad to be getting home. She gazed out the window as the headlights of the car raked across the old trees, familiar to her even in the dark. Spanish moss dangled from the boughs, swinging with the wind, with the rain that saturated the dangling strands. Percy always thought about how the road home was spooky, like a horror movie, almost. They lived outside of New Orleans in a Parish so small that the name seemed irrelevant. Hell, they lived out in the boonies even from that standard. Her father, Mathieu LeBeaux, was a great man. He was the county Coroner and worked with the big smokes of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, along with a few far off counties when the police needed his expertise._

 

_He loved his family and did whatever he could to provide for them. Percy was an only child, so that meant he spoiled her a little extra. It was because of him that she became as obsessed with drawing some of the dead things that she found around, no doubt why she didn't win a prize at the fair today, but that was alright. Not everyone got her eccentricities like her mom and dad did. She was the apple of Mathieu's eye; his pride and joy. Likewise, her father was her hero, and she looked up to him in the way most kids did._

 

_She reasoned that, as a coroner, he helped solved some of the hardest crimes in the region, and in a way, he did. He was no police man, but he knew forensics better than a lot in his field..._

 

“ _I heard another dark joke today, Quincy told it to me, want to hear?” he questioned with a little smile as he glanced towards his drowsy daughter in the passenger seat._

 

“ _Yeah, sure, dad, let's hear what morbid ass joke Quincy told you today,” she said sweetly. Being fourteen, she only ever got to curse around her dad. He was a lot more relaxed in comparison to her mother, who was always huffing and puffing about 'kids these days and their horrible language'. Dad thought it was funny._

 

_Dad was always cool like that..._

 

–

 

Percy woke up abruptly, a gasp spilling free of her lips as she sat up. Her dark hair spilled around her face, steely blue eyes peering around fearfully in the dark. Where was she? She didn't remember. In her anxiety riddled and sleep addled mind, she shot to her feet and quickly left the room. She scuttled quickly down the hallway at top speed, her wits not coming back to her any quicker the more she peered around. She didn't notice the hole in the stairs, and all too suddenly, it came crashing down.

 

_Thud, crack, squish..._

 

Sans jolted at his work bench, whipping his head around and away from the animal he was stripping of fur. His gaze drifted to the hole, first, then to the wet, broken mess that was his new room mate. Alright so they needed to rectify the hole sooner rather than later. He made no move to stand up, curious to see how long it would take for her to heal and snap out of it- heh. The way she landed was horrible, and there was blood oozing out of her face as her head was turned all the way around to gaze fearfully up at the ceiling. Her back was arched and bent over her shoulders with her legs bent in angles that legs simply just didn't go in. Bones protruded from her skin and yellow marrow oozed from one to mix with her blood pooling around her. He briefly wondered if he should get up and adjust her enough that the process could take place, but in a moment, he heard a squishing pop, like a bone going back into socket followed by a snap somewhere in her spine. He watched that bone sink back into the ripped tissue and sinew of her leg and saw the mess of her hair soaking up the blood like a mop as her head started to turn back around. The noises of bone grinding bone made him shudder a bit, whether it was displeasure or not remained to be seen. Soon, her head was right, but she was still not awake yet.

 

He found it interesting that her blood didn't soak back up into her body, instead remaining in her hair and dying her blonde streaks red for the time being. Her back twisted and soon she was laying flat on her stomach and face down. Next came the squishing, twisting snap of her arms righting themselves, followed by another wet pop of a socket returning to it's rightful location. No breath yet, but by now he had hoisted himself up to meander over. Her blood smelled sweet to him, and he found himself lowering to breathe in the perfume.

 

“SANS!” Papyrus was overhead, looking down at the scene, and of course he sucked in an air of breath, aghast at what he was seeing. He crawled down the hole like a spider descending upon a fly caught in it's web, but he seemed...distraught. “Oh... I Liked Her...” he whispered sadly while he rolled her onto her back. He stopped when he saw her caved in rib cage gradually reforming, yanking his hands away in a state of shock. “S...Sans?”

 

“anomaly, bro,” Sans uttered as he watched with a sick sort of pleasure hitting him at seeing her chest rebuild itself. Fascinating.

“W...What Does That Mean, Exactly?” was Papyrus crying? Sans looked up to him, hearing it in his brother's voice. It made his soul shatter briefly, but he reached out to rub along one of those elongated limbs.

“it....means she's not gonna die as easily as you think she is. this is uh...actually the second time she's died on me.”

“Did You Do It?”

“what? no! i mean i wanted to, but no! kinda takes the fun out of it when she just,” he gestured, “pops back.”

“Yes, Well, You're Not Allowed,” Papyrus said bluntly, watching that crimson orb roll in it's socket. “I'm Serious.”

“i told you, bro, not interested. she's not someone who stays gone permanently, so it's not like we can eat her anyway,” Sans leaned forward to run a finger along her temple, bringing a stained digit back to lick along the mess he'd taken. “i want to lick her clean.”

“No, That Is No Way To Treat A Lady! We Must Be Hospitable Gentlemen,” Papyrus said, jolting when he heard her gasp for air. She didn't wake, however, which, Sans wondered if that was standard, or if that was just due to fall damage. He might have to experiment. “She's A Mess...” The slender skeleton wasted no time starting to undress her, ignoring the nasty pops and squishes of her leg bones healing themselves. He watched bruises starting to raise in her skin, blossoming like fireworks underneath the areas where ink didn't show. Even her face looked something grape-ish when it was all over and done with. Worried, he reached to lift her blood stained lips, noting that her teeth weren't broken. “How Did She Land?”

“on her cheek,” Sans responded, taking the shirt as it was passed towards him. He opened his teeth, running his tongue along the bloodstained surface. He couldn't place her blood type, but he found himself humming in delight at how sugary she tasted. Like...doughnuts almost. He sucked on her shirt and helped Papyrus get her upstairs to the bathroom where they helped wash her body of the remnants of blood and bone marrow.  
“Do You Suppose She Knows She Died?”

“i honestly doubt it. when i took her to town, she told me that she remembers before she died, but not actually dying. somethin' about a dream linked to it, it's weird, but i'll look into it.” He lifted a cup full of water over her head to let it spill across her naked flesh to sweep all of that blood away. What a waste, he thought, but he remembered there was a pool of the stuff back in the basement... He'd just... clean that himself later.

“Should... Should We Tell Her?” Papyrus posed while running his hands down her arms to wash blood from under her nails tenderly. Papyrus's gaze lingered in some areas, mostly around her chest at the soft pillows there. He'd looked before when he put her in one of his shirts before, but now she was soaked in blood and water and it made his mind drift to less savory thoughts. He knew Sans wanted to eat her up, and hell, some part of him wanted that too.

 

But he liked her too much, so he wouldn't have it. At least, now, he could look her ink over without being swatted at. Her chest had a coffin with a key hole situated in the dead center that rested between her cleavage, linked with the spider webbing and the 'loving dead' tattoo over her breasts. His eyes lingered briefly on the metal bits she had skewering her---- he looked further down instead at the spider dangling along the webs under her bust, like a lacy bustier.

 

“you're staring pretty hard, bro,” Sans uttered, causing his sibling to huff in a flustered fashion before he went back to scrubbing under her nails.

“I Wanted To See All Of Her Drawings,” he announced innocently, letting his eyes continue southward to look at the tentacle tattoo coiling up her left leg. “She's...Strange.”

“yeah, she is. major league weirdo.”

“But, She's Nice And Is Nice To Us,” Papyrus continued while running a hand along her un-inked leg where he'd seen bone earlier. He rubbed marrow off her skin and gently scratched away the crusting blood there.

“yup,” Sans said while starting to wash the blood out of her hair with that apple-scented shampoo.

“And She Lives With Us,” Papyrus went right on, letting his hand trail up to the flower situated on her hip, “And Can't Die.”

 

The conclusion gave Sans pause as he turned his gaze to his sibling quietly. What was he coming to in that head of his?

“So, We Can't Kill Her,” he mumbled, holding one of her small hands in his massive ones.

“yeah?” Sans goaded, watching Papyrus fluster slightly.

“So maybe it won't be so... lonely?” he whispered out finally while he ran soap up her arm to get some of the blood off while Sans busily rinsed her. He eyed his sibling for a few moments before he nudged him out of his thoughts.

“i wasn't lonely with you around,” Sans offered to try and cheer him up.

“Yes, But We're Brothers, We HAVE To Tolerate Each Other, She Doesn't,” Papyrus pointed out with brows knitting a bit. Oh, so that's what he meant. He meant outside affection, and Percy was... bizarrely understanding of them.

“she does if she wants a roof over her he-”

“I Think It's Ironic. She Came Out Here To Kill Herself And She Can't Die,” the slender skeleton was suddenly laughing a bit, leaning back on his heel to look at his brother while he drained the bloody water from the tub. Sans hated to see all of that waste, but he didn't really want to drink blood tea with soap in it, so, maybe not so bad. His gaze lifted from the drain while he poured more water over the girl to get soap and shampoo off of her while Papyrus laughed to himself. “It's Like One Of Your Terrible Jokes,” he pointed out, and it gave Sans pause to think about it.

“you're kind of right, only... i'm not that cruel,” he pointed out with a smirk.

–

The sun filtered in through the curtains along the mostly boarded up windows when daylight came. Percy found herself trying to sit up, but immediately regretted it so she laid back down with a groan. Everything hurt and she felt like the room was spinning. The room was silent, and she was trying to focus on the wind that delicately caused her curtains to drift a bit. It wasn't loud enough, and that horrible screeching was hitting her again. Every muscle in her body ached, and she felt like she was going to pass out, but the gradual screech in her head made that impossible.

 

Anxiety building, she felt that she needed to do something to chase away the noise in her head, and so, nails biting into her sheets, she started humming to herself, and then eventually singing. Margaret Whiting tended to come out of no where when she was nervous.

 

“Time after time, I tell myself that I'm so lucky to be loving you,” she whispered out, tears beading at the corners of her eyes, threatening to roll over the rim of her eyelashes. She took a deep breath, shaking as she closed her eyes tightly to hum along with the tune of the song in her head. She almost didn't notice the noise in the hallway until the door opened and a smell of food hit her. Percy jolted a bit, and he seemed to notice that much.

“OH! You're Awake!” Papyrus said pleasantly, and she felt relief wash over her just from the sound of his voice. He swept over with a tray in hand to set it on her night stand before he perched himself on the edge of her bed. “Miss Percy, You're Crying,” he uttered as if she were unaware. He reached out to brush her tears away, frowning a little. “What's Troubling You?”

“Why do I feel like I've been hit by a car?” she said feebly, anything that would urge him to keep speaking to her, anything to chase the silence away.

“Now, You're Not Supposed To Answer Questions With A Question.”

“Silence makes me nervous, Papyrus, I'm sorry, I just..”

“OH! Oh, Is That Why You Were Singing When I Came Inside?” he asked, thumbing to the door over his shoulder. He watched her nod and hummed under his breath. “Hold On,” he pat her arm and then hoisted himself off the bed to meander out of the room. The door remained open, and, for now, Percy didn't see Sans watching her from the door frame. Papyrus squeezed by him with a radio and settled it down on her nightstand. It took him a moment to find a station playing some soft, distant piano. That was all it really took, and he turned to peer towards the busted girl in the bed. He glanced then to Sans at the door, spotting that questioning expression and shrugging. “She Has Anxiety,” he explained as if that would tell Sans anything.

 

It didn't.

 

Papyrus returned to settle at Percy's side, gently taking hold of her plate to start feeding her. “I answered you,” she uttered, lifting slightly on her elbows, only to sink again with a groan. “What...happened?”

“You were sleep walking last night and fell into the stairs,” Papyrus didn't pull punches, but he did... omit certain things. Like the fact that she'd died in front of them and came right on back. Sans thought it wasn't time for that, after all.

“I... I fell?” She lifted her arms to survey the damage, no breaks, but she was covered in bruises and sore muscle that it was painfully clear that she was suffering a bit. “Wow, I'm sorry, that must have been... hard to see?” she said apologetically.

 

“we've seen worse,” Sans uttered from the door, taking some pleasure in seeing her jolt out of not knowing he was still there. “so you're grounded to the bed til, y'know, we can get the stairs fixed. don't think you're much in the mood to be movin' about anyway,” he offered.

 

“Ok, I can accept that,” she said softly, opening her mouth to take the spoon that was pressed to her lips. She sucked at her lower lip for a moment, staring bleakly into space. “Just...don't let it get too quiet in here?” it was almost sad, how horrified she sounded, and for a moment, Papyrus felt bad he didn't pick up on this before now.

 

“I'll Come Keep The Batteries Under Control,” he said with an assuring smile that she returned, however feebly. “I Would Heal You, But--- It's Been A While Since I used That Magic,” he uttered honestly.

“Oh, it's okay, I wouldn't wanna put you guys out anyway. I'm sure I'll be okay after a day or so...” The fact that she didn't ask to go to the hospital had Sans curious, but he kept it to himself. Papyrus seemed to be equally interested in that, because he tipped his head, this way and that trying to get his mind around it. Interesting. “My backpack has some books and stuff in it,” she said, stirring the skeleton brothers from their thoughts.

 

“You Can Barely Hold Yourself Up, Do You Think You Can Hold A Book?” there was a laugh in Papyrus's voice.

“Can damn well try,” Percy responded with a firm nod as another bite of food was pushed into her mouth. Breakfast went on like this for a bit, though it was clear she was on her way back to sleep. Papyrus watched her for a few moments, holding the empty bowl in his lap. He waited to hear her breathing slow and her heartbeat ease to a more calm thump and not a frustrated flutter, but for a moment he simply stared.

 

“what'd you feed her?”

“Dinosaur Oatmeal,” he mumbled in response while hoisting himself up to drain the coffee she hadn't been able to drink. He moved to the radio to turn the volume up just slightly before he moved to the door to step into the hallway. “That Was Odd,” he uttered with a hint of concern.

 

“what was?” Sans tipped his head up at his sibling as the door closed behind him.

“She Didn't Ask To Go To See A Doctor.”

“not that odd, bro, remember why she's out here,” Sans took the tray and shortcut to the kitchen. He sinked the whole tray, turning in time to see Papyrus entering the kitchen. Who needed to teleport when you were tall enough to just take three steps and reach your destination? He looked troubled. “we're gonna fix the stairs, it'll be fine.”

 

“Yes, I Know,” Papyrus countered while moving to clean up the mess from making breakfast. “Do You Think We Should Give Her Her Books?”

“the more she sleeps, the more i imagine she's healing. she may be able to hold 'em later. i'll get 'em to her.”

“I'll Get Started On The Stairs,” and with that, Papyrus ventured to the basement to go sort through the wood he needed to mend the hole.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pap- So I'm gonna fix that hole.  
> Sans- I'm gonna sit and laugh at this human's stupidity.  
> Percy- Wow. Thanks.
> 
>  
> 
> Pap's the only redeemable person here.


	7. Corpse Land

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Percy outs herself as a LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE.
> 
> And also Papyrus is literally the coolest guy ever.

“ _Don't worry, baby, daddy's here.... I'm not gonna leave you, so you don't leave me, okay?”_

 

–

 

Percy was tired of laying in bed. For three days while the hole in the stairs was being repaired she had endured being held captive in 'house arrest' from her skeletal room mates. ~~Papyrus~~ – The Warden had designated it unsafe for her to leave her room without an escort, and even then, the furthest distance she could go while recovering from her fall was to the bathroom. At first it had been funny, somewhat endearing that he was so concerned about her, but now she was catching a little cabin fever and she was starting to grow antsy.

 

She had been laying in her bed for much of the day, though occasionally she got up to draw on her walls. Sometimes, from the corner of her eye, Percy caught movement. When she looked over, she'd usually spot Sans sitting on her bed, watching her work on the weird mural she was working on, or simply napping on her mattress. She knew when they bought the damn thing he was going to crash there off and on. He just seemed like one of those kind of guys. This time, however, when she caught that movement, he was sitting much closer to her, so close, in fact, that his shadow engulfed her entirely.

 

“You gotta stop sneakin' in here like that, you're going to give me a heart attack.”

“eh, you'll bounce back,” he answered simply as his legs came around either side of the artist doodling on the wall. “brought you somethin' to help with your achin'. took a lot to find it, so hopefully it works,” he uttered while holding up a hand. Percy put her pencil behind her ear and turned to look at his offering. After giving it a tug to open it she found a small, wrapped bit of hard candy that looked sort of antique in the way it was made and contained. The foil wrapping was orange and violet with gold flecks a the twisted up edges. The odd girl stared at it for a few moments then looked back to the monster handing it over. “what?”

“I get the thought counts, but, m'not sure how candy's gonna finish fixing me up, Sans,” she pointed out. He almost looked offended, moving to slap the candy into her hand before he pushed himself up.

 

“it's monster candy, eat it. wouldn't give you somethin' that wasn't gonna work, y'twit.”

“So is it like the cookies that Buddy sent me here with?” she questioned while gradually unwrapping it and placing the sort-of jaw breaker like candy into her mouth. There was a moment where air was sucked out of her lungs and she felt light headed. Her pupils were shot and dilated as she felt heat wash over her from the odd caramelly piece she'd just put onto her tongue. Lashes fluttered and pat her cheeks and it was clear that Percy was lost in her head for a moment. It was a really nice high, actually.

 

Sans watched with some sort of amusement, leaning on her bedside table to get a good look at her face as she sucked away at that candy. How interesting. “monster candy will fix most things, that brought your health back up.”

“Cool,” she said while cheeking the sweet in her mouth. It was melting rapidly and she was a little disappointed in that. It tasted good and made her feel good. “So does this mean I'm free of my house arrest? You comin' to get rid of my ankle monitor, boss?” she asked.

 

He snorted with laughter and moved to squat down in front of her. “yes, but I need one more thing from you, inmate,” he said, and she gave him a long-suffering sigh.

“Yeah, and what's that?”

“when you fell a few nights back, you didn't ask to go to the doctor... why is that?”

“Well, Pap was taking such good ca-”  
“cut the bullshit, percy,” he said this calmly, but it was a warning, one that she picked up on because she suddenly looked a bit nervous.

 

“I'm afraid of doctors, every time I go to one they find something else...wrong with me and want to study me and I just--”

“what do you mean by that?”

 

His prying was not appreciated and he could tell. Her cheeks were getting red with frustration, though she didn't frown. Her eyes briefly glossed over, but she blinked the fog away. Her body language slouched, back to that sort of dull 'don't care' posture she'd showed during the shopping trip. This was the posture of someone who realized the jig was up.

 

“Sans, I know why you're asking me this, okay? But... I'm not ready to talk about it,” she mumbled softly. Sans wasn't sure if this meant she knew about her deaths and was in denial, or, if she was still chocking it up to being a dream. She sucked in a breath and then looked to him. “I'll talk to you about it, I will, it's just, I've only been here for what, two and a half weeks? It's too much too soon. And you might decide to toss me out and then where will I be?”

“failing to kill yourself in the woods?”

“Bingo.”

 

–

 

Sans knew that she was aware of her deaths now. Sure, she had lied to his face and played it off as if she didn't know, but you didn't fall two stories without being horribly injured or dead. She'd come out of it _bruised_ and she knew that looked suspicious. Now, while Sans wasn't keen on being lied to, he really couldn't blame her. He was a pathological liar himself. He could seldom keep himself from spitting out untruths when it suited him- and it never took him long to think of proper fibs, either.

 

Still, he was suspicious. She'd said that she was afraid of doctors finding things. Finding what, exactly?

 

Sure, he was going to give her all the time she needed, but it didn't stop him from being horribly curious. He had left Percy after the talk, and she was free to mill about the house while he went about his rounds in his and his brother's territory to check the traps. Most seemed to be empty, though the one that she had nearly fallen into nearly two weeks ago had a gift in it. A doe had stumbled into the bear trap and was crippled. It had likely been there thrashing throughout the course of the night, because it didn't react when he came near it.

 

He knew the feeling. That hopeless sensation that came from being trapped with no indication of escape. He stared at the doe for quite a long time, looking down to the wounded leg she had. Was that hopelessness what drew Percy to the woods in the first place? He thought about it for quite a while as he put the animal out of it's misery. He felt somewhat mechanical about it, mostly due to him being lost in his own thoughts for the time being.

 

While the entirety of their territory was armed to the teeth with traps, it wasn't fun for Sans to find anything in them. He preferred actively hunting, and killing something that had already given up it's will to fight was- to be fair- boring. Papyrus was the exact opposite, however. Whenever they came out to check the traps together, his brother lit up like a Christmas tree if something was caught. Traps were Papyrus's thing, for sure. Still, despite the boring nature of this kill, he put the doe out of her misery and hoisted the carcass up over his shoulder. He reset the trap after prying it off of the broken leg and then moved back towards the house to go about the rest of his job.

 

Venison was on the menu tonight.

 

–

 

Papyrus could see Sans breaking down a deer carcass in the back of the house, and for a moment, watched him as if it were the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. He saw the leg, one of his traps worked! He grinned, his sharp, crooked teeth glinting slightly in his pride. He was so distracted that he hadn't noticed Percy behind him, at least, he didn't until she lightly nudged his side. He jolted a bit, looking down to her in a manner that would suggest she might have spooked him. He watched her small, fleshy hands lift up in surrender, as if he'd just pulled a gun on her.

 

“Sorry, I didn't mean to catch y'off guard, Pap, I just wanted to get some water and you're- uh- in front of the sink,” she reasoned, letting her hands lower finally.

 

Papyrus watched the way she moved for a moment, still sort of lost in his thoughts, but after a moment, his eyes bent up with a smile as he stepped out of the way. “It's Quite Alright. Sans Has Caught A Deer, Have You Ever Eaten Venison?”

“I'm southern, Papyrus, they love huntin' down there,” she said with a little grin as she tipped a cup under the water faucet to get herself a glass. She downed it pretty quickly, which made Papyrus feel sort of slightly bad because he knew he was supposed to have brought her something before now. Sure, house arrest was over, but she hadn't known that before Sans left. And, well, he forgot all about it. He felt ashamed for a moment, and he must have been expressing that, because when those icy eyes shifted in their sockets to look at him, he watched her face blossom into confusion.

 

“What's wrong?” she questioned, which, again, yanked him out of his head.

 

These moments happened frequently for Papyrus where it was blatantly obvious. Sans, on the other hand, hid it better behind that tight, rictus grin of his.

 

“Oh, No, I Just, I Should Have Come To Get You Before Now,” he uttered lowly to her, his frown still evident to her despite his own grimacing smile. “I'm Sorry,” he concluded. He was somewhat taken by surprised when she uttered a little laugh. It was warm, the sort of chuckle that felt like a summer breeze blowing through trees in full bloom. Oh, he liked that sound, he decided.

 

That small, fleshy hand reached out to touch his arm and Papyrus watched the moth inked into her flesh move slightly with the motion of her muscles working under her skin. He was staring again. “Pap, you don't have to be sorry, Sans told me I was able to come up and down the stairs without falling to the basement a while ago. I just, uh, got caught up drawing.”

 

“Oh? I Did Notice You Were Adding To Your Wall Drawing. What's It Going To Be?”

“Dunno yet, heaven, maybe?”

 

The concept of heaven and hell were typically lost on monsters. They had been through so much that the very idea of being punished for the slightest thing was appalling. None of them practiced religion, at least, to Papyrus's knowledge.

“What Does Heaven Look Like?” he questioned, realizing her hand hadn't left his arm. She was fingering the thick cording of his sweater. Did she like it? He'd made it himself, so maybe he could make one for her, too.

 

“Heaven's what you make it, Papyrus. I don't know what it looks like for me yet. I'm just... doing detail work right now, I guess,” she said with a small smile. There was silence between them, and she seemed to catch herself still touching his arm, so she retracted her hand out of embarrassment. Truth was, the yarn he'd picked had been quite... nice to the touch, really. She could drown in a blanket made with the stuff.

 

“If Heaven Is What You Make It, Then Mine Is Right Here,” he said simply, looking around the modest home that he and his brother had built for themselves. “With Sans.... With You,” he offered a smile and was pleased that she smiled back.

 

“Y'know, speaking of here,” she moved away from him and he felt like she'd taken the heat of the room with her. Disappointment hit him, but in a moment greed slid into it's place and he followed her. She crossed out of the kitchen and moved to settle on the tattered old sofa. “At some point, I was wonderin' if you and Sans would show me where all of your traps are so I don't, like, run headlong into them when running an errand or something.”

 

He stiffened a bit at that. Sans... hadn't done that already? No, of course not, he wouldn't show her all of the traps when they were taking a one-way trip to town and then a shortcut home.

 

“I Would Love To Go On A Walk With You,” he offered with a bright smile. “It's To Be Clear Tomorrow, We Can Go Then, If You want,” he imagined that Sans would be working on breaking that deer down until it was time to start cooking it, so he didn't think today was the best day. Besides, she was just getting up from bedrest! He couldn't just let her out of the house like that. Not yet. Tomorrow, though...

 

“Tomorrow's good, m'still kinda beat from ya keepin' me in bed for-- what, a week?”

“Three Days Is Hardly A Week,” he said with a snort, hands settled on his hips as he peered down to her. “I'm Surprised You Were So Against It.”  
“Well, I gotta do what the warden says, or I might lose my three hots and a cot,” she said with a grin wide enough that he could see her cheeks dimpling. That was cute. Why hadn't he noticed that before?

 

After spending several nights watching her sleep, he would have thought he would have caught a glimpse of those dimples before. Unfortunately, she always wore a sad grimace in her sleep...

 

“Well, Then From Now On You Can Come On My Rounds With Me,” he said finally, yanking himself out of his thoughts before he caught himself staring again. Not that he didn't do it all the livelong day, but he didn't want to scare her off with it. He liked having her around.

“That'd be cool,” she responded and he lit up a bit.

“COOL! Good, ah--- Good,” he said, a little more excited than he wish he'd shown. “I'm Going To Go Help Sans And Start Supper. If You Need Anything, Yell For Us?”

“Sure, though, can't think of anything I'd need that I couldn't get myself.”

 

He reached out and pat her shoulder, giving it a squeeze that was gentle for him, less so for her. He caught the wince and decided he'd practice being gentler on something else before he squeezed her again. Papyrus left fairly quickly, somewhat flustered. When he arrived outside, he made note that Sans was nudging the Gut-bucket out of the way of the deer he'd hung up and, well, gutted. He was wiping blood on his shirt when he noticed Papyrus sweeping out like a bat out of hell.

 

“you okay?”

“I'm Cool,” Papyrus said with a sort of pride in his voice. Today was going to be a very, very good day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Pap so much, guys, you don't even know.
> 
> I wanted to personally thank the people reading this one. Like I said a while back this is super self indulgent on my part, and I didn't think anyone would be interested in my oc havin' shenanigans.
> 
> So for those of you who are interested and are reading, thanks a ton. Love you all.

**Author's Note:**

> A night in the woods turns into a traumatic experience.
> 
> So, I'm writing this one for my own amusement, moreso than my other stories. Because this is kind of a 'for me' story, it should be noted that I don't expect many people to like it, or even read it. If you do, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
> 
> As per usual, the work has art, but I haven't thrown it up on the dumblrs yet. Still, if you wanna stay updated on this and my other fics, request something, or just have a chat, come on by!  
> https://ahouseinthewoods.tumblr.com


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